Portraits of the World's Smart Cities

CITY PORTRAITS

ICF Top 7 Intelligent Communities – Taoyuan City

The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) releases an annual selection of seven different communities which it considers to have achieved a certain level of intelligence in the way they respond to the challenges of globalization and urbanization or, as the ICF prefers to call it, the Broadband Economy.[1] The selection of communities for 2018 was released in February, and can be found listed on the bee smart city website.[2] The Intelligent Community of the Year was chosen from among the Top 7 and announced at the ICF Global Summit in June.

Taoyuan City, Taiwan - Creating The Asian 'Silicon Valley'

Taoyuan City is positioning itself to be a hub for business and innovation in Taiwan. Located in the north of the island, not far from the nation’s capital of Taipei, Taoyuan City can count a third of Taiwan’s top manufacturers amongst its 47,000 companies, including the largest number of logistics companies on the island. Knowing that strong logistics systems and their supporting infrastructure are a necessary component to attract new businesses and encourage economic growth, the city took things a step further and established the Taoyuan Aerotropolis, and designated its international airport a free trade zone. It has also developed its transportation systems to swiftly and reliably connect its two million citizens both with one another and with their neighbors: as many as 261 bus routes criss-cross the city, and high-speed rail networks link it with Taipei and New Taipei City to the northeast and Hsinchu and Miaoli to the southwest.[3]